THE MIDDLE EAST: DON'T INSULT ME WITH AN OFFER LIKE THAT

DON'T INSULT ME WITH AN OFFER LIKE THAT

In strictly private negotiations, there is really no point in striking dramatic poses and demanding the impossible. So in recent communications with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat didn't do any posturing and didn't ask Netanyahu to cancel his plan to build Har Homa, a new Jewish settlement in mostly Arab East Jerusalem. Instead, Arafat settled for the art of the possible: he requested that Netanyahu put the project on hold, maybe for six months or so, to allow Palestinian and Israeli negotiators to nudge the stymied peace process forward. Earlier this month Netanyahu agreed....